Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Are we really Exceptional?
OK, so we all know that I am big on the topic of water and more specifically water use and conservation. In this addition of my Blog I am going to directly critique what the City of Round Rock says about water restrictions and what they are actually doing to make sure citizens are within the limits.
First of all, I commend the city for being one of the more proactive areas in Central Texas to implement water restrictions early on in the drought. I do however still have concerns that the information posted on the city web page is only there for informational purposes and is not being used as a tool to hold people accountable. Now I do understand that a great number of people do not have access to or even choose to use the Internet as a source of information but when it comes to one of our most precious and ever decreasing natural resources, then get a clue people!
Now for my evidence of the above cited accusations. Just yesterday I stopped at two different houses on my way home from the Round Rock Campus and asked the occupants to stop watering their lawns. One of these home owners were watering by hand in the middle of the day, not only is that ignorant with the sun beating down, but also a clear violation of city policy. The second offender had the automatic sprinkler running, again not only stupid but also a violation. I am certainly not a model citizen nor a goodie two-shoes but I SERIOUSLY do not approve of people wasting our water resources to have a nice looking lawn. It's grass people, who cares!
Onto why this is an oversight on the city's part. After leaving each residence I called the Round Rock Police Department (RRPD) to report the violations and was told to basically mind my own business and they would take care of it. I was not even allowed to give them the addresses of the two blatant violators. On the city's website it clearly states that violations are a Class "C" Misdemeanor and people wanting to report violations should call the RRPD. That is exactly what I did and who knows how many others out there are violating the restrictions and how many others are trying to report them?
Look, all I am trying to say is that if you put the information out there and people choose not to abide or follow it then there must be some accountability. Again, I compliment the city for imposing the restrictions, now all I am asking is that we enforce them and hold violators accountable.
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Going through my fellow classmate’s blogs, I noticed a commentary posted by “The Gunny” titled “Are We Really Exceptional?” He brings up the very important subject of the drought and hits the nail on the head when it comes to people’s attitude toward this issue. The “LCRA” shows that the situation in Texas is bad. The months from October 10 to September 11 have been the driest ever documented since recording began in 1895. As of now, the projections for any precipitation are not looking promising. If these conditions don’t improve by January 1st, the drought will be declared the worst in Texas’ history. The city has made it a point to inform the public of the conditions through radio, newsletters/papers, television, and internet. So why do people continue to disobey the city restrictions and not take this issue seriously? Have we as people become so complacent and oblivious of how delicate our infrastructure really is? I guess people (to include those who should enforce the restrictions) won’t take it seriously until their water starts getting shut off and rationed. With the drought forecasted to get worse, if people can’t even follow the current simple watering guidelines, then it is inevitable that we will just be cut off all together and restricted in our everyday use. A small sacrifice right now could go a long way. It is sad that we lack the self discipline to police ourselves. It seems to me that this complacency came from our expectation that these types of issues are taken care of for us and thus, has resulted in the loss of individual conviction in preserving our most precious resource.
In the article on "The Gunny's" blog post; http://marineviewperryrun2whouse.blogspot.com/2011/10/are-we-really-exceptional.html. My esteemed classmate commends the city of Round Rock's implementation of strict water conservation policies, and his personal disdain for people who are ignorant and careless enough to blatantly violate the restrictions for the sake of having a nice lawn. He also expresses his disappointment with the actual enforcement of the restrictions by the city’s Police Department.
I found myself getting a little "hot under the collar" when I was reading his story of how he was driving home and saw two separate people violating the ordnance and watering their lawns. Even more frustrating for me was the fact that they were doing so in the middle of the day when it is actually detrimental to their lawns because the grass gets scorched by the evaporation of the water caused by the heat of the mid-day sun. The actions he took are what more people should do we are all responsible for protecting the water supply so I must applaud "The Gunny" for having the intestinal fortitude and integrity to actually tell these individuals that they were not supposed to be doing what they were doing.
I also empathize with his level of confusion and frustration toward the reaction of the Round Rock Police department basically telling him "they don't care". It is tantamount to the city implementing the restrictions just for the sake of saying that they had, without having any actual intention of ever enforcing the new laws. This is an all too common byproduct of a pessimistic and non-proactive government and society. It seems to me the only time we really care about the major issues we face like; our current drought and water supply problem, is when they have become to severe to actually do anything meaningful about.
My example is the levee system on the Mississippi River the levee system built by the Army Core of Engineers. The system has long been known to be completely inadequate if there were a large magnitude flood. The State and Federal Governments just kept on passing the buck on to the next guys in line until finally we had a huge flood event in early 2011 and the inadequate levee system all along the rivers length failed and destroyed millions of acres. This may not have been preventable entirely but it certainly could have been mitigated to a much greater extent than it was.
This is why we as Texans seriously need to take a real, long-term, extensive and proactive approach to the impending disaster which we face of running out of fresh water. If you think I'm just exaggerating then you are fooling yourselves! You can think of our water supply as a system. The way a system works is it receives input and produces outputs. The inputs in this case are rain and snowfall which drains into the Colorado River system and the output is the fresh water we harvest from the system. In order to maintain the system there has to be a balance between the input and output levels, we are currently experiencing the worst shortage of input in Texas history (a draught) yet are increasing the output to the highest level in Texas history due to our increasing population. If we are not able to bring the problem under control then we face the failure of the system completely and all we are left with is nothing but empty glasses and dried up communities.
So I implore you to please be more conscious of our water supply not waste it for any reason, because we simply can't go to wall-mart and get more. Once it's gone it's gone at least until the draught ends, whenever that may be.
I can certainly appreciate "Gunny's" respect for the law. I also agree that Rick Perry is an excellent choice for president. I do not however, agree with his position on water conservation.
Again I do respect the law and so long as it is not unconstitutional or oppressive I think it should be both obeyed and enforced. Clearly that is not happening in Round Rock and probably many other places. It seems to me that if Round Rock is unable to or (in this case) unwilling to enforce a rule, it should be a suggestion instead of a law. Should they choose to make water conservation laws (as they have), they so certainly enforce them like the do other laws.
I frequently witness petty crimes and violations. Reckless driving erks me the way unlawful watering bothers Gunny. Many laws are ignored each day, I can only presume that these offenses go unnoticed or unpunished because our Law Enforcement Officers have more important things to tend to. I suspect that this is at least part of the issue. If this is in fact the case, I can understand water violation being at the low end of the priorities list.
I disagree with Gunny commending the city for its "proactive" laws. It is my opinion that we will know when the water is running out when our water bills increase. I would stop watering my lawn if it were a burden to my monthly water bill. Capitalism takes care of most any problem if it is allowed to run its course.
I do not approve of Round Rock's and Gunny's position that people should not be able to choose how best to use the water that they pay for. The city is the one selling it for crying out loud! How would you like it if other vendors sold you goods and then told you how you could or couldn't use them. If my utility district has a problem with me using my water as I see fit, they should chose not to sell it to me. As for the comment "it's grass people, who cares!", certain homeowners care. They have the right to care about their investment, they also have the right to let the grass die if they want to. But no one with a dead lawn (or otherwise) can tell me not to water with in my legal limits.
As far as the original poster getting told to mind his own business for reporting violation, that is absurd. If they decide to make a law they should respond to such reports accordingly. Or better yet they should take their own advice by minding their own business and eliminating the law.
Gunny's post was both informative and well written. He made his views clearly and concisely. He made it interesting by inserting a story about how he personally witnessed the violations and reacted. Lastly, he summarized his point in a well laid out conclusion.
Mr. Porter,
I thank you for your response and I can understand your point of view as well, but just because you can afford something does not mean you should be wasting a precious resource.
Mr. Bailey,
It was very nice to read your comments and I could not agree with you more about the Levee system on the Mighty Miss!
Mr. Quintero,
Thank you for your response and comments. Right you are!
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